resharp001

Almost everything out there in Ouray is safe to run alone.....and most of the stuff you can pull your trailer behind just fine. Tight Switchbacks on things like Black Bear or Imogene would obviously cause and issue with a trailer though. It would be tight turns rather than rugged terrain that dictate trailer or no trailer IMO. They rent jeeps to people with no experience out there and set them free to roam outside of a couple of things (Black Bear/Imogene) that they won't let you take their jeeps on. Things are more scenic than technical there.....outside of shelf/swithbacks.

If it were me, and my options were to drive more passes in a day or take 1 long day hike, I'd opt for driving the passes as there is so much to see out there. Although I really enjoy hiking myself as well, a good hike will eat up a lot of time, and when time is limited I'd opt to take in as many sights as possible.

One last note....I can't recall if it's technically directional or not.....but people run Black Bear to Telluride and then Imogene back. If you tried to run Imogene over to Telluride as you mention, you could hit a lot of resistance on the trail. It's been a few years since I was out there......but you might want to look in to that.

MikeOK

This is true, I probably saw 30-40 other Jeeps and all but two of them were going west to east. Also I wouldn't want to meet someone on that long narrow section of Ophir while I was pulling a trailer. There is a KOA on the north side of Ouray, could you park your trailer there and leave it during the day? I think you would enjoy yourself much more without it on the trails.

resharp001

Also.....Cascade falls is worth the quick visit right in town. It's literally a park and mosey back a very short distance. Nice photo op.

w squared

My thought is to run Ophir East to West, Black Bear East to West (because the switchbacks above Telluride are one-way) and Imogene West to East as my drive back from Telluride to Ouray...so my Black Bear/Imogene directions are definitely in line with what you suggest, REsharp001. I thought about taking Imogene from Telluride to Ouray on the first day, but I think that would be pushing it with a trailer on, given that I would be starting the day in Durango. I'll probably either take the pavement or Last Dollar road to the NW out of Telluride and then loop around the easy way.

Does anyone have specific input or feedback on Corkscrew Gulch or Poughkeepsie Gulch? I think that adding those tow into the "Alpine Loop" would make for a very interesting day!

resharp001

How much time are you spending right there in the Ouray area? It's really hard to say any of pass/gulch in that area isn't worthwhile cuz everything is so damn scenic and beautiful in that part of the Rockies. I think Black Bear over and Imogene back would alone be the better part of a full day wouldn't you Mike?

w squared

The 11th is my "Durango to Ouray" day.

As of right now that leaves me with the 12th, 13th, and 14th in Ouray, with my tentatively planned departure on the 15th. There's a guy from my Jeep club in Calgary planning to be in Moab on the 17th....so if I am loving the experience of being in Ouray I may elect to spend the 15th and 16th there as well, and then drive over to Moab on the 17th.

And yes - I actually have reservations at the KOA - after the first day, my plan is very definitely to park the trailer there and use it as "base camp". With the trailer on I can go a lot of places. Without the trailer....yeah...I really enjoy the technical stuff.

MikeOK

Yes we did black bear from Ouray to Telluride and then Imogene back. It was most of the day. Definately do Corkscrew that one was a little easier and very scenic. It's an out and back, we did it in a little over 2 hours. We didn't do Poughkeepsie, one of my friends here said it was pretty tough, but consider that he's from OK too and our version of hard may be different than yours. Last Dollar road is pretty smooth and it cuts off a bunch of miles compared to that highway trip going around back to Ouray. And the highway isn't scenic at all compared to everything else you've seen.

w squared

My version of moderate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLJhu14X1zw

MikeOK

That's what you call articulation!

carcomputerexchange

First time I drove to Ouray from Durango I almost had to change my pants a couple times. It was in January and the roads were a bit icy. It was much more enjoyable the next summer. How did your trip go?